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 Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2021 3:15 pm
A Spark of Hope
Neued | Prentice
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"This is junk, just a piece of an old pot some housewife threw out the window in anger. Stop wasting my time."
"No, it's not! It's something else! If you'd just list---"
"I'm not listening to a youngster tell me what is!"
"But it's something!"
"It's not! Now get out!"
The owner of the shop slammed the door in Maia's face, so suddenly the hair on her head moved as if in a slight breeze. She shot a glare at the door, her hands clenched into fists. It was something! She knew it! It was nothing like she'd ever seen in all her exploring back home and the little bit she'd done around here. She thought she could bring it to someone who appraised things like this and maybe sell it for a bit of profit to help her. But the old crone wouldn't listen to her because of her age. Kids were always bringing her basic stuff like this, she'd said. She'd have been rich on that alone.
But it is something! Maia screamed in her head. She huffed once, looked down at the broken piece in her hand, and flung it away down the street. She than turned to leave, to go back out into the wilds where her recent camp was. Back where it was peaceful and she was alone, not having to deal with people like that old Shifter. Or everyone else in the streets, currently staring at her humiliation. No one said anything to her. Didn't give an apology on behalf of one of their own or words of encouragement. Sympathy. Just stared at her like she was some exotic animal put on display.
Throwing her nose up at them, Maia made a step towards the direction of her camp.
"I think you are right. This is something more than an ordinary piece of pottery."
The young Shifter spun on her heel, angry words already beginning to form in her mouth. But wait. He had agreed with her. She closed her mouth, feeling foolish for letting her emotions almost cause her to yell at this stranger for no reason.
He was a man of the Wind tribe, maybe in his mid-forties. There were fine wrinkles around his mouth and forehead, what she determined must be from an enjoyable life. At least it looked like he had laughed a lot to get those particular lines. Maybe mingled with a lot of worry to account for the lines above his eyes. Her father had those, too. Not the ones around the mouth. Maia couldn't remember the last, or even the first, time she'd heard Pand laugh or even seem amused by something. He had always been working in her memories, worrying about the next deadline to offer his inventions to an investor, some rich man who would stop by the village a few times a year, looking for something interesting to insert into his bored life. He'd never liked what her father presented to him and so her family had remained out in the wilderness as he worked more and more to discover what the old noble would enjoy.
Maia stood, silently watching the stranger, not sure what to say to him. A thank would have been appropriate, but she couldn't get the words to come out. She wasn't used to dealing with others she wasn't trying to do some kind of bartering with. Such as the old Shifter she just came from. That wasn't a normal conversation, so she was able to put passion into her words. This...She had thrown that piece away and had already moved on from it when the Wind male had picked it up. Now he was turning it over in his hands, a set to his mouth that told her he was thinking. Finally, he looked back up at her, jerking it once towards her as if he meant to throw it back. She didn't move. He was only indicating it.
"Don't let that old fool tell you otherwise. She likes to think she knows more than she really does." Jerking his head towards the closed door. Maia gave a quick glance at it, seeing the owner through the small window back at her counter, writing something in her notebook. The Wind gave a chuckle. "I am quite familiar with Isla. Took her a long time to take me seriously, too."
He moved closer to her, keeping a respectful distance from her as befitting two complete strangers who didn't even know the others names. He fixed that last part.
"How rude of me to talk to you like this and not even give my name. I am Chiro. I hunt the artifacts of the world for a living. And you are....?"
"Ma...Maia." The young Shifter clasped her hands behind her back, wringing them together out of nervousness. She couldn't figure out why he'd want to talk to her. And about that silly little piece of useless junk. She should have kept looking until she'd come out with something more interesting to show that old bat. How did she ever think a piece of trash would be worth trying to sell?
Chiro smiled at her, holding the piece close. He didn't seem to think it trash, the way he was cradling it. And if he did this for a living, like he said....Could it be something?
Her mind was so indecisive!
"Hello, Maia. I apologize for being so...Bold with you. But, like I said, I've been hunting artifacts for a long time and, though I can't be sure, I think what you have might be something. I'd like to bring it to someone I know who could tell us if it is. And also would like to ask you if you have anything else."
Oh! Despite herself, Maia felt a surge of excitement shoot up her body. Was this her break? Could she finally make something off the odd things she'd sometimes find while she dug in the ground at random out of curiosity of anything hiding unseen down there, just waiting for someone to find it?
"Yes! I do!"
"Splendid! I was actually on my way somewhere, but if we could find a good time, I'd love to see what else you've found."
All nervousness forgotten, Maia easily gave the details of where her camp was, never stopping to think about any risks she was taking by giving it out so quickly. All that mattered to her was someone believed her. If she could just make some money so she could live a bit easier than she currently was. Bartering only got her so far. She knew that eventually she would need an income and a place to live. She just wasn't yet sure how to go about this. All she could think of was selling things she found. There was nothing else in her possession she could part with. Everything she owned were essential to her survival.
"Wonderful! I will be by tomorrow at noon to see what you have. Until than..." Chiro tipped his invisible hat at her, pulling on the short hairs over his forehead instead before disappearing into the crowd behind him. Maia watched him go with an excited smile on her face. She turned to the door of the appraisal lady, made some silly wiggle of her fingers at it, and left in the opposite direction for her temporary home.
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Wordcount: 1237
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Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 3:55 pm
A New Beginning
Neued | Prentice
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The instant the sun streamed in through the tent Maia had set up besides a tree, she woke. For a moment, she lay there, groggy in her half dream. Than the conversation in town the day before came back to her with sudden clarity and she snapped up in her blankets, long hair lose all about her shoulders. She pulled it over one shoulder, searching behind her for the elastic she had used to keep it all back. She found it snapped in half almost completely under her pillow. She sighed. She had no more, just the pins to put it up for the day. That would need another trip into town, more bartering. Hopefully after today, she'd be able to sell some of the things she'd found and be able to make a steady enough income. It'd be nice to be able to go into town for things whenever she needed it. After that, she had no real plan. She always assumed, once she'd had enough of seeing the world, she'd return to her father.
If she made a good first impression, that is. Maia suddenly felt as if she was being put on display for this man to study, not the objects she had to show him. She wondered if this was how her father had felt, dealing with the noble as he did, trying to impress him enough to be sponsored to further the development of an idea. What if Chiro didn't like anything she had? Would she be stuck struggling like this until she gave up and went back home?
"No!" the young Shifter suddenly shouted, slapping both hands on her cheeks until they started to sting. Thinking like that would get her nowhere. She needed to be confident, show him she was confident! Who wanted to work with someone insecure? No one, that was who. Her father had never been insecure, even in the face of all his failures to impress that noble. He had tried and tried and likely was still trying even as she wandered the world, trying to figure her own life out. She was getting older. It was about time she started to find her path in life.
But first, she needed to ready herself and her temporary home to receive him. It was a ritual she remembered from a time when she was very, very small. The two of them would clean the house until it was spotless from top to bottom for many days before the arrival of the noble. It was a tradition from before Maia had even been born, when it was just her parents living together. Her mother had been the one to start it, Pand always told her. Just like Maia, her mother would do much of the housework and yardwork, as her father would be holed up inside his workshop for most of the day, too distracted with his next idea to even remember to eat. So his wife had suggested they buckle down before the noble showed up, cleaning the entire house together to prepare to give a good impression.
Just as she was doing now for her own visitor. She had always enjoyed that time of the year. It was the most she saw of her father during the day, as he never missed out on helping her. It was for his benefit, after all, that they did it.
Still inside her tent, Maia scrambled through her stack of clothes for something suitable. Not that she had anything really fancy, living off the land as she was. She did, however, have a nice robe that her mother had owned. She decided to put that on, tucking her feet into a pair of nice boots with some breeches. The robe wasn't very long, coming about mid-thigh on her.
Pinning her hair up out of the way next, the young Shifter crawled through the flaps and stood up, surveying her area.
There wasn't much she could do to make it look nice. It was a camp, pretty standard. Around the campfire were her dishes and what food she had left in a sort of makeshift kitchen area. Everything else was inside her tent, kept in a separate corner from the pile of blankets that made up her bed. She pursed her lips. She was a little disappointed. It was satisfying to clean right before an important meeting. All she had to do was clean a few dishes. Than she settled down to wait for him, her backpack that held what she wanted to show him besides her.
It was a few hours before Chiro finally showed up. She heard him coming up from behind her and stood up to meet him. Her stomach was fluttering with butterflies of nerves.
He came close enough to her and gave a little bow. Maia had never seen anything like it before. Maybe he had been raised in a noble's house and taught those kinds of manners. She copied the action back at him, not wanting to come off as rude.
"Nice spot," he complimented, a friendly smile on his face. Maia sucked on her bottom lip, unsure how to begin this. Maybe he sensed that. "So what do you have to show me?"
That helped her spring into action. Sitting back down on the log, she pulled the bag closer, digging through it until she had found three different things and handed them over without a word, the fluttering in her stomach making it difficult to even smile at him. He nodded and took them, spending a few minutes looking at each one closely, turning them over and over in his fingers.
"Not bad," Chiro said as he handed the three objects back to Maia. "Yes, I think we can do something with those. I think you have a knack for finding things of value."
Maia's heart leapt. That was exactly what she had been hoping to hear! And it only seemed to get better as the Wind male continued talking.
"Have you ever thought about an apprenticeship with a treasure hunter?" She shook her head. "If you are interested, I was looking for an assistant. I keep a small office in town, I can set you up with a desk there."
Was this really happening? Was someone offering her a job? Maia pinched herself just to make sure, wincing at the pain.
"Yes, sir! I would love to help you!"
Chiro clapped his hands together in delight before handing her a card with his address on it. "I know this is very out of the blue, but I really think you have a talent for this and I'd like to teach you how to cultivate it. Meet me at that address tomorrow afternoon and we'll get you set up."
Maia took it with glee, a giant grin on her face. "Of course! I'll be there. Should I bring anything?"
"Everything that you've found. I'd like to look it over more closely with my tools. You don't have to move to town or anything, you can continue living out here." Rising, he stretched out his back. "I spent a lot of time myself out in the wilderness when I was younger." Reaching out his hand, they shook on their new deal before he left her in her excitement. She was bubbling over so much with it, she spent the rest of the afternoon fidgeting over her entire campsite, never able to sit still long enough to do one small task.
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Wordcount: 1254
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Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 8:14 pm
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Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:16 pm
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Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2021 9:18 pm
Class Affinity Solo
Neued | Prentice
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With necklace in hand, Maia forced herself to spend the next few days trying to find the owner. Her hopes weren't very high, considering how deep in the woods it had been and also the condition it was in. It didn't look too new or valuable. At least not to her. But than what really did she know? She was still very new into her apprenticeship with Chiro. Never before had it mattered how old or valuable or the condition of anything she'd found while she was still with her father. It was just neat things she found while she explored the jungle around her home. Now Chiro was teaching her how to care about what she found and to see the value in it. Which, she had to admit, was kind of neat.
Most people were somewhat polite or at least indifferent when Maia asked them about the necklace. Nor had they ever seen one like it before. A few tried to buy it off her and one tried to steal it, trying a very obvious trick to try and make her look in a different direction. Which almost got her, she was ashamed to admit. Not until she noticed a bit of a shifty look in their eyes. Anyone that desperate to take something directly out of her hands like that was definitely not going to be very subtly at it. Before she could say anything to them, a burly guy came out of the crowd and shooed him away, apologizing for the disturbance. It seems this dude had been causing problems for the shopkeepers in the area, loitering outside the doors and waiting to snatch the bags of recently bought items straight from the buyer's hands. Respect for the boldness.
All in all, it made for a rather exhausting day and Maia couldn't wait to get back to her camp and crawl into her tent for a needed rest. She had bought a book just the day before. A thrilling adventure on the high seas. She was really craving it right now.
Rising from the bench, she was about to pocket the necklace when someone called near to her. She looked up to find a woman coming towards her.
"Where did you find that?"
Maia blinked for a few seconds before raising the necklace, holding it out towards the woman, who didn't take it but merely stared at it for a moment, than looked back at Maia, awaiting the answer.
Turned out it was a valuable necklace. The woman told Maia it had been stolen months ago from a prize collection of old jewelry and other objects found in and around the area. A showcase of the history of the town. There had been no witnesses to see the theft, no one around the building on the night of the crime, so everyone had no idea who had done it. Only the one necklace was taken. Not a huge loss for the town, but still a sad event nonetheless. Every piece in there was one of a kind and estimated to be extremely old. Losing even one was a blow to the ones who ran it. Maia was all too happy to give it back. She even received a small reward for her efforts in retrieving it.
After the woman left to return the necklace to its rightful place, the young Shifter sat down on a bench, her mind going over everything that had just happened. She'd never given anything she found to someone directly. It had always gone through Chiro. She just found things and brought them to him to do with as he pleased and he paid her for her efforts. This...This was new. It filled her with a sense of pride she'd never felt before. The look of gratitude on the woman's face when she took the necklace back had left a warm sensation inside Maia's chest. She had done that. She had helped the woman find a treasured heirloom of the town. Tomorrow she would go and see it back in its proper place and look at the other objects on display. And than she would go back out into the wilderness and search for more things, with more vigor than she'd had before. For now she'd found a new purpose in her job. She wanted to make more people as happy as that woman.
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Wordcount: 732
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Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2021 3:51 pm
An Attempt At Kindness
Neued | Prentice
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Maia breathed in deeply and let it out slowly before stepping forward and pushing the door open. The package in her hands felt ten times as heavy than it really was. She could do this. Nothing to it, really. Just hand over the box and leave. That was all she had to do.
She wished it were that easy.
As always, Patri was standing behind the counter, writing in that notebook of hers. When she heard the door open, the top hitting the little bell hanging off the ceiling, she looked up expectantly, a smile beginning to form on her face. It quickly vanished when she saw who had really entered. The older Shifter closed her notebook with a snap, making Maia visibly jump a bit. You mustn't let her smell your unease, she thought to herself, squaring her shoulders and continuing forward. No matter all the glares Patri was shoving her way. For not the first time, Maia wondered why she was always like this.
"What is it you want now?" Patri growled, tapping her fingers on the counter in impatience of being interrupted. "I only put up with you because of Chiro." In other words, Maia would never amount to anything and Chiro was wasting his time taking her under his wing. Maia bit back a retort to that. Just months ago, she'd never have thought about doing such a thing, but between dealing with Patri and others in the town, she was learning how to find her way around words. Some might say a bit too well at times. But Maia wasn't going to let herself be pushed around.
"I....Uh...." No. Don't stutter. Don't show weakness before the enemy. "I brought you something."
Patri scoffed and opened up her notebook, starting to scribble something down once more. "I already told you. Many times. I don't want anything you have."
But why not?! It wasn't like she found boring things. Chiro said himself, she had a knack for it. Some of the things she'd found had turned out to be very valuable. And she'd found that priceless necklace that had been stolen form the museum. Surely that should count for something? Usually that counted for something! She trusted the Wind male's judgement way more than this old....
Nope. Be civil. As difficult as that was. Maia had lived a sheltered life of rarely being told not to do something, unless it was digging up her neighbor's flower gardens for the treasures she felt were hidden just below the surface when she was a child. Even now, she was sure there was something underneath the yard of every house. The world was such an old thing, surely every inch of it had secrets hidden deep. Thus she had a lot of issues with authority. Especially anyone telling her what to do or refusing to take her seriously. She deeply respected Chiro and so had little problems with him. Patri...
Maia took another deep breath, waiting for Patri's eyes to go back down to the notebook so the large expansion of her chest was not noticed. She breathed out slowly, so her huge intake of air also wouldn't be heard. Not that it mattered.
"Why are you still here?" the old Shifter snapped. As if her growing impatience wasn't clear in her voice, she also shut the notebook with a huge thump. Maia screwed up her face, her eyebrows lowering before she could stop them. In equal measures, Patri made her just as angry as she, for whatever reason, made Patri.
"I told you," Maia almost said through clenched teeth, managing at the last minute to keep from grinding them. "I brought you something." Than she placed the package on the counter and, before Patri could continue to be so contrary with her, quickly walked back out the door. She just barely heard a reply through the closing door, but wasn't paying attention enough through the pounding of her heart in her ears to know what the words were. Done! It was done!
Happy holidays to you, too, old bat.
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Wordcount: 680
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Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2021 6:58 pm
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Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2022 6:23 pm
Bargainwith Elka
Neued | Prentice----------------------------------------
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Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2022 6:27 pm
Growth Solo
Somewhere in Jauhar | Prentice
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Maybe it was time for a change. Not as in moving somewhere else, although, in a way, that was also the plan. But maybe it was time for a small change.
In all her years living outside Neued on her own, in her tent and few belongings outside the necessities to survive, Maia had never encountered anything like what she'd just been through. At least not anything that dangerous. Had never been that scared and unsure of her future before. When she left to go adventuring, she had been looking at the world through ignorant eyes, thinking everything would be fine. That she knew what she was doing. When it reality, she had been lucky to have been winging every day as she had been for so long and not found any trouble along the way. She didn't know what she was doing. She had been a foolish teenager, exploding one day with the intense desire to get away from it all, without a single thought to plan about where that path would take her.
Now she was on the cusp of adulthood. She needed to start thinking responsibly. She had a job she enjoyed doing, that gave her more freedom than other jobs did. She needed to stop playing around and be serious.
The first thing she should do was move into the town. As much as Maia didn't like crowds, well...She'd have to learn to get used to them, wasn't she? You could hide away your whole life from everything that made you uncomfortable. She'd just have to learn to keep her eyes open so she didn't end up in another situation.
Than there was the matter of her father. She hadn't seen nor even sent him word in all the time she was gone. He could think she was dead. How selfish of her, how inconsiderate, to not think about his feelings until now. She'd been so focused on this burning need to seek adventure like some hero in a book that she hadn't thought about anything else.
Walking over to her fire pit, Maia crouched down beside it, arranging sticks and dried leaves for kindling. She should at least send him a letter. She wasn't sure if she wanted to face him, though she knew she should. After what she'd put him through all these years, she owed him a face to face. But she wasn't sure she had the courage for it. She'd never felt accountable for her actions before. It was an...Unwelcome feeling, to say the least. She'd never realized how spoiled she'd been. It was time to put that behind her and grow up.
It was fortunate for her someone had been watching the whole thing and saved her skin after that Aishan left her. She didn't want to think about what might have happened otherwise. That was just another lesson not to trust anyone too quickly. People could look one way on the surface but be different on the inside. Her rescuer hadn't had good intentions. Though that could have also been worse, she supposed. All she had to do was share her income for the next month. She should have plenty saved up and stashed back at Chiro's office to still get herself a place somewhere.
She'd start looking tomorrow.
(After a scary experience, Maia reflects on the choices she's made, concluding to do better in the future.)
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Wordcount: 549
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Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 6:58 pm
From the Outsidewith Esmeray
Somewhere in Jauhar | Collector----------------------------------------
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Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2022 7:17 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2022 10:28 am
Talk Down to Mewith Doesina
Somewhere in Jauhar | Collector----------------------------------------
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Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2022 10:46 am
Upgrade
Neued | Collector
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The last day of freedom. And the first day of the rest of her life.
Which was what was going through Maia's head as she finished packing the last of her things into her backpack, the treasures she had found having been deposited with Chiro just earlier in the day. Okay, maybe that was a little melodramatic, last day of freedom. It wasn't like she was giving up a life of adventure to work in an office or some other job that would trap her to the city. She was only moving her stuff to a more secure place, a house in Neued that she could lock up. Years of being outside just wasn't doing it for her anymore. She was growing older and was beginning to grow out of high adventure. She wanted to settle somewhere, decorate a house of her own. Show off some of the neat things she had found while out exploring. And have more room for her things in general. Wearing the same few pieces of clothing over and over, washing them constantly because they were all she had. That wasn't how an adult should be living. An adult should have a closet full of clothes. A table to eat at. A proper bed with proper blankets to sleep in. She wanted proper things of her very own, like a set of fancy dishes for entertaining guests.
Okay, maybe not that last one. When did she ever have time to even make friends? Chiro was still the only one she really knew after all this time, the only one she spoke to, really. Oh, she knew others in the city. Mostly sellers in the market or buyers of what she found. Maybe that was also a part of her life that she needed to start thinking about. Making friends. She was 18, now, no longer a child, but considered a grown-up.
At least by most. That old Shifter Patri would never see her as grown-up, no matter how old Maia got. That didn't matter anymore. Not what Patri thought. It only mattered what she thought of herself and she thought she was doing pretty good. She set out on her own, to find a place for herself in the world, and she'd done just that! That was worth some credit.
Besides....Since when did Patri like anyone? Maia wasn't even sure if she liked Chiro, despite how many times the two have done business together. Successfully.
"Eh. Who cares." Maia rose, sliding the bag over her shoulders and picking up the rolled up pile at her feet, containing her tent and all her blankets. Her campsite, the same one she'd used for years, was now clear of all her things. The only thing to mark her existence here was the charred spot where her fire still stood, surrounded by the small rocks she had managed to find to keep the fire contained. Perhaps someone else would use this spot. She'd definitely return to it when she was out here.
Smiling at the thought of something she left behind being useful to someone else, Maia turned around and walked towards the city, keeping her path straight towards the small house she had purchased two months before. Who was selling it had moved out a few days ago. She'd given them plenty of time in case they forgot something before she started to move her meager belongings into it.
It stood before her, now, the windows small and the paint chipping. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it was the best she could afford. For now. She'd work hard to make it a home and than, once she was in a good place in her life, she would move on as the previous owner did, bestowing it onto another young hopeful just started out in life. It was a pleasant thought, as she moved up in the world, what she left behind would help someone else do the same.
Unlocking the door awkwardly, while still trying to hold the tent and blankets in one hand, Maia entered her new home, closing the door behind her before dropping the tent on the floor. First things first, before she did anything else, she'd have to go buy a mattress. Anything else could wait. Her priority was no longer sleeping on a hard ground. A mattress on the floor would be like heaven after sleeping in a tent. The frame could come later. Much later. Maybe after everything else. It wasn't like anyone would be coming over to visit. Except maybe Chiro. She didn't care how he saw her place.
Putting the bag on the floor next to the tent, Maia dug around inside for her wallet. Now was as good a time as any to find a suitable mattress.
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Wordcount: 800
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2022 9:44 pm
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2022 7:05 pm
Secret Lessonwith Kayde
Somewhere in Jauhar | Collector----------------------------------------
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